Ligue 1

Marseille join Lyon at summit

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:42:00

Andre-Pierre Gignac's first goal since his return from injury
moved Marseille level at the top of Ligue 1 with a 1-0 win at
nine-man Toulouse on Saturday.

Gignac returned from a broken foot off the bench late in the
midweek win at Bastia and saw Cheikh M'Bengue and Franck Tabanou
sent off before his 47th-minute introduction.

Andre Ayew had also missed a first-half penalty but France
striker Gignac decided the contest against his former club on 68
minutes.

The win lifted OM level with Lyon at the top, although Les Gones
can move clear tomorrow when they face a tough trip to big-spending
Paris St Germain.

Champions Montpellier moved into the top half of the table for
the first time this season as they secured a third consecutive win
- 4-0 over Bastia.

After Marco Estrada's sensational 14th-minute opener,
second-half goals from Emanuel Herrera, Younes Belhanda and Anthony
Mounier ensured the recent resurgence of Rene Girard's side has now
started to gather real momentum.

The 4-0 scoreline was Montpellier's biggest win of the campaign
- beating the 3-0 success over Ajaccio only last weekend - as their
disappointing start has started to fade from memory.

Sixteen-year-old winger Neal Maupay came off the bench to score
a dramatic late winner as Nice came from two goals down to beat
Evian 3-2 at the Stade Municipal du Ray.

Maupay was given his Ligue 1 debut in the 87th minute and duly
rewarded manager Claude Puel, who saw his side move up to fourth,
with a volley in the first minute of stoppage time.

That looked unlikely when strikes from Yannick Sagbo and Cedric
Barbosa put Evian two goals to the good inside 13 minutes, but a
goal in either half from Dario Cvitanich levelled proceedings
before Maupay notched late on.

Troyes picked up only their second league win of the season, 3-2
over Ajaccio to move off the bottom of the table - but came close
to throwing away the victory at the death.

Jean-Marc Furlan's side headed into the game having collected
just nine points from 17 games, but raced into a three-goal
interval lead thanks to strikes from Stephane Darbion, Benjamin
Nivet and Fabien Camus at the Stade de l'Aube.

The visitors finally got going in the closing stages - pulling
one back in the 89th minute through substitute Paul-Bastien Lasne
and reducing the deficit further in stoppage time when Johan
Cavalli's free-kick flew in off the head of Troyes defender Granddi
Ngoyi - but they had left their charge too late.

Brest claimed their first away win, 2-1 at fellow strugglers
Sochaux. Cedric Bakambu gave the home side the lead in the second
half but goals from Kamel Chafni and Eden Ben Basat turned things
in Brest's favour.

A first goal in six games was not enough for Reims to claim a
much-needed win as they drew 1-1 with Lille.

Despite the recent profligacy of Hubert Fournier's team they led
with just six minutes on the clock through Anthony Weber.

However, just when they looked on course to claim a first win
since October 6, the home side conceded an equaliser to Dimitri
Payet.

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